A Young Family is Terrified by Anti Deer Violence

Deer shot in drive-by in front of Bragg Creek home

Family is shocked by incident and worried about two fawns left behind

CBC News Posted: Oct 07, 2015 7:07 PM MT Last Updated: Oct 07, 2015 9:08 PM MT

Mackenzie Walsh and her three-year-old daughter Tilly in front of their house where a doe with two fawns was shot by a man in a BMW. (Allison Dempster/CBC)

It was a drive-by worthy of a Disney script.
A deer and her two fawns had been regular visitors to the Walsh family's West Bragg Creek property since spring, enough that Mackenzie Walsh says they were "almost like pets to us."
So she and her family reacted with horror when a man drove up in a BMW last weekend and shot the doe in front of their home.

The doe was killed on the weekend in front of the Walsh family home in West Bragg Creek. (Walsh family) 

The gunshot startled her three-year-old daughter Tilly and sent her husband running out the door to confront the man.
"He said, 'Stop!', and the guy peeled off. And then Justin, my husband, went and looked and sure enough he had shot the mom deer 15 metres basically from where we were sitting in our living room," Walsh told CBC News.
"Had he missed it could've gone straight through our window."
Walsh says people in the area are outraged by the incident, and she's concerned for the two fawns, which the family has named Hope and Grace.
"She has these two babies that now have no mom," Walsh said. "And I know it is that time of year where they're getting weaned, but they're not weaned yet and they need to bulk up before winter comes and it comes fast here, so that's another concern."

Two fawns in Bragg Creek will have to face the winter alone after a man in a BMW shot their mother last weekend. (Walsh family)

Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers, as well as the RCMP, are looking into the incident, but have not yet identified the driver, who could face numerous charges including careless use of a firearm.
"Why did the deer die?" Tilly asks.
"When the mom died I heard that noise ... that 'boom.' It was really, really, really loud."